The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling! And How You Can Avoid The Rubble…

At the time of this writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (The average of the 30 largest industrial stocks in the market) has dropped 1484.64 points in 21 days. That’s almost a 12% loss in less than a month and wipes out the gains for the entire year. In addition, the US Debt rating has dropped from AAA to AA… And the madness hasn’t stopped there. The European countries are all down as well. In fact, it seems like there’s a worldwide meltdown in the financial markets – and let’s not even talk about jobs (or lack thereof) and the seemingly high unemployment rate. Even the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke coming out and saying that the Fed is keeping interest rates at a historic low for probably another 2 years (basically guaranteeing that banks will make a profit for another 2 years) didn’t keep the markets up – in fact, it dropped the markets even more. Historically high unemployment, overabundance of housing on the market and more foreclosures (1 in every 583 homes across the country is in foreclosure), government gone crazy, international turmoil.. AWK!!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!!!! And no simple umbrella is going to protect you!

So what can you do? How can you avoid the rubble? That’s the million dollar question isn’t it? Or for some people, $100,000 is enough. Seriously though, what can you do about it?

Here are some options:
A) Stick your head in a hole and hope that everything fixes itself and goes away
B) Worry about it all night, stay in bed all day and hope that everything fixes itself and goes away
C) Complain, gripe, yell, and get mad at everything and everyone and hope that everything fixes itself and goes away
D) Ignore everything and hope that everything fixes itself and goes away
E) All of the above

Did I get them all? Some people might think so. In fact, some people have already tried all of the above – and the sky is still falling. Truth of the matter is that for most people, there’s not much we can do. Sure, if you really want to be active, then you’ll run for congress and campaign to change all the laws and regulations that got us here in the first place. Unfortunately, our government doesn’t seem to be doing that great of a job dealing with the situation and well, that’s not necessarily the right option for most people.

You can also become a celebrity and start talking out about the “change” that needs to happen cause you know, celebrities like Oprah, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, even Ashton Kutcher all have millions of fans and twitter followers ready to take up cause and do what they say. Of course, becoming a celebrity isn’t for your average everyday Joe either.

There’s one thing you can do though. And that’s take control of your own life. Take control of your own economy, your own body, mind, emotions, and your own future. Hey, if you’re one of the few people still working a job, then make sure you budget appropriately and create an emergency fund. If you’re not in a corporate job, then find a way of being productive and create your own opportunities (how about consulting? getting more education? part-time gigs? what else? The opportunties are limitless!)

When you stop focusing on all the noise that’s happening in the world and focus on the things that are right in front of you, it’s amazing how different everything becomes. You may not be able to control what’s going on in congress. You can control what’s going on in your own home though. Instead of getting caught up in things you have no control over, you can control what you do every day and night. Are you just floating by and letting the world pass you by or are you taking serious action and planning for the future?

Here’s the thing, when you focus on your world and your world is stable, beautiful, and full of life, liberty, and hope, then you can grow your world to include your friends, family, and others (and eventually, maybe even influence the government and polls). If your world is stable, then you can help others stabalize their world. Image two people in a swimming pool. When both people are jumping up and down and making waves, then the waves multiply, get bigger and bigger until they overwhelm everything. When one person stops and focuses on stabalizing the waves around them, then things calm down a bit. When that one person can then help the other person stop jumping, now the pool calms down and the waves go away. If your world isn’t stable, then what are the steps you need to take in order to get it stable. Stop worrying about what’s happening in the stock market or the debt rating. Focus on stabalizing your world – whatever that means. Focus on the things YOU can control and regain your power because my friend, you are powerful beyond measure.

So if the world is falling apart, are you making waves and hoping things get better, or are you staying calm and making things better by helping first yourself and then others? As the great Bobby McFerrin once said, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!”